of others whose excellēt lerning singuler vertues ar knowē to al the world S. Austin an elder holy father of Christes church a mā of a most ripe iudgemēt sharpe searching wit in the scriptures in his boke de catechisandis rudibus defineth a sacrament thus Sacramentum est signaculum inuisibilis gratiae a Sacrament is a visible a sensible an outward signe or token of an inuisible grace or benefit And he expresseth the meaning of this definition more plainly in a certain letter verely in his .xxiii. Epistle which he writeth to one Bonifacius .2 Wher he witnesseth all sacramentes to be figures and similitudes of the benefit grace whiche they do represent and signifie saying If sacramētes haue not certain similitudes of these thinges wherof they are Sacramentes then are they no Sacramentes And for this similitude for the most part they take the names of the very things And S. Cyprian hath euen the very same doctrine and the same wordes in a certaine sermon which he made de chrismate of annointing If therfor the bread of which Christ saith this is my body be a sacrament as can not be denied then it hath the name of Christes body because of some similitudes whiche shalbe declared streightwaies and not because of any transubstantiation that is to say it is a sensible and an outward signe of his holy fleshe and the wyne likewyse is a sensible signe of his honorable bloude without any mutation chaunge or alteration of the natures and substaūces either of bread or wyne But because this is a darke and a secret mistery I wil assay to expresse it more euidently and to declare the similitudes and properties which do chaunge the names of bread wyne but not their natures and essence Geue diligent hede ponder well what I shall say for this matter is very hard Whē our sauiour Christ affirmeth bread to be his body and wyne to be his bloud he ordeineth a Sacrament that is he geueth the name of the thing to the signes of bread and wyne so that notwithstanding the matter the nature and subance of the signes do remayne and continue Onles their substaunce and natures do remaine I say vnto you bread wyne can be no Sacramentes For sacramēts as I told you before out of S. Austin ar so called of y e similitudes of those things ▪ to which they be sacramentes Take away the matter the substaunce and nature of bread and wyne and thou takest away all similitudes whiche must of necessitie be in the signes of bread wyne after the consecration and in that thei be sacramentes For all the elder and learned fathers of Christes churche do confesse with one voyce the scriptures do witnesse the same that there must be thre similitudes properties in bread wine a similitude of norishing a similitude of vnitie and a similitude of conuersion for which properties similitudes bread wyne be named Christes body bloud and not for any transubstantiation or alteration of their natures The similitude and propertie of norishing is this that as bread and wyne do norish our bodies and comfort our outward mā so the body and bloud of Christ be the meat and foode of our soules do comfort our inward man Christ expresseth this similitude calling himself Panē vitae the bread of eternall lyfe and professing his fleshe to be very meat and his bloud to be veri drynke That is the foode and spirituall sustenaunce of mans soull and mynde This I say is one cause why Christ affirmeth bread to be his body and wyne to be his bloud as S. Hierom teacheth vs wryting thus of Christes supper vpō Mathew After the eatyng of the mysticall lambe with his Apostles Assumit panem qui confortat cor hominis he toke saieth this holy father he tooke bread which comforteth the heart of man And that this is S. Hieroms meaning Beda doth declare who vpon Luke doeth set out this sentence of Hierom more copiously saying Because bread doeth cōfirme or strengthen the flesh and wyne worketh bloud in the fleshe therfore is the bread referred mistically vnto Christes body and the wyne is referred vnto his bloude Another cause why bread and wyne is named Christes fleshe and bloude is another similitude of vnitie whiche is thus muche to say As the Sacramental lofe of whiche we doe eate commyng to the communiō is made of many cornes of wheat by the lyquore of water knoden into doghe and yet it is but one lofe or one cake And as the holy wyne is made of the iuyce of dyuers and many grapes and yet is but one cup of wyne so all they that eate Christes body and drynke hys bloude through faythe though they be neuer so many yet by the lyquor of charitie and loue they are made one body and one fleshe the mysticall body of the Sonne of God which is his church and congregation not his natural body S. Paul expresseth this similitude witnessing that the bread is a Sacrament not only of Christes natural body but also of the congregation and mistical body saying Vnus panis vnum corpus multi sumus that albeit we be many yet notwithstanding we are one lofe and one body What a lofe are we Verely euen Triticeus panis a wheaten lofe by the similitude and propertie of vnitie which I haue declared S. Cipriā also in his sixt letter which he writeth to one Magnus in his first boke aloweth this similitude wryting thus The Lord saith this holy father calleth bread made of many graines or cornes his body he nameth wyne made of the ioyce of the clusters of diuerse grapes his bloud And S. Austin In sermone de sacra feria paschae in a certen sermone which he made of the holy feast of passeouer alloweth the same similitude or propertie prouing vs by this propertie to be Christes body saying because Christ hath suffered for vs he hath betaken vnto vs in this sacramēt his body bloud which he hath also made our selues For we are also made his body and by his mercy we are euen the same thing that we receiue And afterward he sayth in y e sayd sermon now in the name of Christ you are come as a man would say to the chalice of the Lord there are ye vpon the table and there are ye in the chalice The third similitude of cōuersion for y t which also the Sacrament is affirmed to be Christes flesh and bloud is this that as the bread and wyne are turned into the substaunce of our bodies by fedyng and susteining them so by the receiuinge of Christes body and bloud we are turned into the nature of them we are chaunged and altered and made holy flesh of his flesh bones of his bones as Paul witnesseth And Chrisostom confirmeth the same saying nos secum in vnam massam reducit neque id
are all one lofe and one body in asmuch as we all are partakers of one bread and as often as ye shal eate this bread c. and whosoeuer shall eat of this bread vnworthely and againe let euery man examin him selfe and so let hym eate of this bread Lo S. Paul nameth the on part of this sacramēt bread whersoeuer he maketh mention therof and Christ our Maister whome we are commaundeth to heare nameth the other part the fruite of the vine by their names teaching vs that the matter the ensence and the substaūce both of bread and wine are not transformed are not transubstātiat into the substaunce of his flesh and bloud but do remaine and continue as well after the consecration as before or els they can be no sacraments as I proued in my secōd lesson Nowithstanding Christ in his supper affirmeth bread and wyne to be his body bloud and calleth his body Granum frumenti a wheat corne and his bloud the fruit of the vine For those thre properties and similitudes whiche I haue declared and also for another similitude whiche nowe he teacheth vs here that is because his body and bloud are the fruite of Mary the fruit of Dauid the fruit of Abraham and of others as it is written Ex quibus Christus est secundum carnem Christ is of the fathers touching his flesh Euen as the sacramental bread and wyne are the fruit of wheat and the fruit of the vine For this cause and such other he calleth his body Granum frumenti a wheate corne and affirmeth the signes to be his fleshe and bloud not for any mutation of their substaunces For this similitude and such other do chaunge the names of bread and wyne but not their natures and essence into Christes nature for Christes nature is the fruite of many Patriarkes and diuers kynges not the fruite of the vine nether yet the fruit of wheate But the Papistes reply here that Paul calleth the sacrament bread so many tymes and that Christ nameth the wyne the fruite of the vine not of that it is but of that it was not that they are styll bread and wyne after the consecration but because they weere so before And they defend this their distinction interpretation with two stronge argumentes inuincible as they do thinke Their first argument is gathered of the wordes of Christ immediatly folowing in that he sayth that he wyll drynke of this fruite of the vyne in the kyngdome of his father with his disciples We shalbe fed sayth the Papist in Gods kyngdome whiche is the glory of the lyfe to come with this fruite of the vyne but we shall not be fed there with the corruptible fode and naturs of bread and wyne Ergo their natures do not remayne and continue and wyne is called the fruite of the vyne and bread Granum frumenti a wheat corne or the frute of wheat of that it was not of that it is I answer his fathers kingdom in which Christ saith that he wil drinke new wine with his disciples in the aforesaid text is not the glory of the life to come but that tyme whiche folowed immediatly his resurrection in which not for any necessitie or hunger as S. Austin saith epi. xlix ▪ which he writeth to one Deogratias but for a trial and probation that he was verely risen concerning his humanitie he did both eate and drinke with his disciples as Peter witnesseth in his sermō to Cornelius Then he dranke the fruite of the vyne a new with them that is after a straunge and a newe sort hauyng not passible and mortall but impassible and immortall flesh and such as neded no bodely foode Chrisostom a learned and Godly byshop of Christes church doth so vnderstand these wordes of Christ. For vpō Mathew he writeth thus expounding this very text meminit iam resurrectionis ac regnū patris eam appellat that is Christ remembreth nowe his resurrection calling it his fathers kingdom Nether is it against reason or the phrase of the scriptures to take gods kingdom in this signification which began chiefly to florishe immediatly after Christes death as appeareth and as he him self taught his disciples that it shuld so do saying Cū exaltatis fuero omnia tra ham ad meipsum when I shalbe lifted vp I will drawe al thinges to my selfe For God doth not reigne only in heauē but also in this life as it is wryten Regnum dei intra vos est the kingdome of God is within you Christ speaking of drinking new wyne in his fathers kingdom meaneth this raigne wherby God the father reigned in the hartes of the faithfull after his sonnes resurrection by the grace of his almighty spirit with many visible giftes and signes Therfore it can not be proued of these wordes that the natures of bread and wyne are disanulled Their second reason wherwith they would proue the sacramentes to be named bread and wyne in that they were so before and not in that they be so still is framed and made of many like phrases in the scriptures When the serpent which was made of Aarons rod deuoured the serpentes which the enchaūters of Pharao made of their rods the texte faith that Aarons rod did eate vp theyr roddes calling thē roddes because they were so before So the scriptures many tymes do name man earth forsomuche as he was earth touching his body before his creation They doe call wyne water whiche was made of water as we reade After this sort saith y t Papistes Christ nameth his bloud wyne and the fruit of the vyne and his body bread and Granum frumenti a wheat corne or the fruit of wheat Though Aarons rod were turned into a Serpente yet this mutation was no transubstantiation neither is earth transubstantiat into man nor water into wine The scriptures make relation of many wonders and myracles in both testamentes but let them shewe any transubstantiation in any of Gods myracles from the begynnyng of the worlde and I wyll be of their opinion If they can not it is against reason that they should abuse Gods myracles to proue their transubstantiatiō and to mainteyn their own dreames and inuentions Moreouer the scriptures doe manifestly expresse a mutation in the aforesayd myracles They testifie with plaine wordes that the rods turned to Serpentes that man was formed and made of the earth and that water was made wyne but they do not testifie that bread and wyne are turned into Christes reall body and bloud neither doe they saye that Christes body and bloud was made of them but rather deny it For Paull sayth that God sent his son Factum ex muliere made of a woman teachyng vs with manifest wordes that touchynge fleshe and bloud he is womans seede that is the fruit of Mary not the fruite of the vyne But because both they and we haue scriptures and it must nedes be
geue the thankes vnto God And as touching these sermons iudge of them thy selfe as God shall geue the grace Thus fare thou wel in him y â— liueth for euer Amen The .25 of September ⧠THE FIRST Sermon on the Sunday next before Easter ¶ The sum of the Gospell THe Gospell of this day wel beloued in the Lord conteyneth a narration of suche things as our master Chrisâ— did immediatly before he was through the couetousnes of Iudas enuy of his own nation betrayed vnto death It is a loÌ„g processe as you haue heard worthy of perpetual remembraunce and a worthy matter to be declared to al men and women For it setteth forth plainly afore our eyes as it wer in a scaffolde the sede promised which by many darke ridels and figures is signified shadowed in Moeses and the Prophetes and conteineth the beneuolence the louing kyndnes the great tender mercy and good wil of God the father who so loued vs that for our honor he suffred his honorable and only begotten chylde to be dishonored and oppressed of malicious and couetous men And that so noble and worthy a benefite should not fall out of remembraunce which is the alone author of our redemptioÌ„ and our only comfort against sinne that we should reserue this his louing kindnes in continuall memory not be vnthankefull he hath commaunded vs by the mouth of Christ our Lorde to celebrate a commemoration of his fauour clemency of his sonnes dishonour death and to resorte vnto the holy sacrament of the same that is of Christes honorable body and bloud Because this matter is so long that it caÌ„not be worthely declared in one hower nor â—wayne forasmuch as many be yet ignoraÌ„t of the fruit of the vse and cause of the mary and swetnesse of the Lordes supper knowe not what it meaneth nor what a sacrament is and Easter now draweth nigh at whiche time al men and women dispose them selues to come to Christes banket as I wold wishe they wold also aswell at other times and so come do whose praiers God doth not forget yet because the most part wil not come but at the aforesaid feast therfore and also for as much as it is a member parcel of the gospel of this sonday before Easter I thought it good to speake now of this matter which is an abbridgement of the whole scripture as wel for the erudition of those that be vnlearned as also that suche as be stubbornly wedded to their owne iudgements and are hardned against the truth may not excuse them selues by ignoraunce when to rendre an account of their faithes they shalbe cited to appere at the barre before the diuine maiestie But that you may y e better impresse in your hartes cary away that which I shal speke hereof I wil reherse vnto you that part meÌ„ber of this gospel which coÌ„prehendeth Christes supper Whiles they were eating Iesus toke bread and when he had geuen thankes he brake it and gaue it to the Disciples and saied Take eat this is my body And he toke the cup thanked and gaue it them saying Drink of it euery one for this is my bloud of the newe Testament shed for many to the forgeuenes of synnes I say vnto you I will not drynke henceforth of this fruit of the vyne till that day when I shall drinke it new with you in my fathers kingdome And when they had geuen praises they went out in to mount Oliuete This matter is declared how we doe receiue Christes body and bloud in the sensible sacrament of bread and wyne also without the sacrament is shewed in the sixt chapter of S. Iohns Gospell That I may speake hereof to the promotion of Gods glory finde out suche lessons such doctrine in y e text which may be to your instruction edifying which be assembled here to serue God in praier hering his word let vs aske gods help spirit for the which I shal desire you to say the lords praier after me Our fa. c. This Gospel welbeloued in the lord is ful of spiritual erudition and heaueÌ„ly comfort it hath as many good lessons fruitful matters as wordes yea and as many heresies be gathered of the words therof as good lessons as shalbe declared Lest thorow plenty of matter I be ouerlong and tedious I wil ouerrun it in order as the text leadeth speaking much or litle of euery sentence as I shal see nedeful for your enstruction desiring you not to loke for a learned profound declaration but only for a plain exposition and a faithful confession of the catholike faith First and in the beginning of the supper in that the text saith Whyles they were eating Iesus toke the bread Of this we may learne that Christ his disciples did celebrate this sacrameÌ„t of his honorable body and bloud not after the present vse and maner of the congregation but after other meates and drinkes First he did eate his passeouer and EasterlaÌ„be with his disciples after the custome of the old testament which passeouer and easterlambe was a figure and shadow of our sacramentall bread wyne For as they of the olde lawe did eat yearly an easterlambe in remeÌ„braÌ„ce of their deliueraunce from Egipt and from the expression of Pharao so we of the new testament do receiue sacramentall bread and wyne in remembrauÌ„ce of Christes death passion through which we ar deliuered from the Egipt of sinne from the gates of hell and from the power of the deuil And as the paschal laÌ„be was ordeined and eaten the night before the children of Israel were deliuered froÌ„ Egipt so likewyse this sacrament was ordeined and eaten the night before we were deliuered from our sinnes And as when the Israelites were escaped out of Egipt they did eate neuertheles the paschal lambe which was called stil the passing by or their passouer and pasport because it was a remembrauÌ„ce of their passage out of Egipt and they eating the same hartely reioysed offering him sacrifice and acknowledging with infinit thankes that they were the felowship of them that had such a merciful God So we now being deliuered from sinne doe eate neuertheles the sacrament which is stil called his bodi that once died for our deliueraunce and we hartly reioyce offring to him y e sacrifice of praise acknowledging with infinit thankes that we ar of the feloship of them which haue such a mercifull and mighty God thorowe Christ. And their lambe was a sacrameÌ„t not only of their deliueraunce out of Egipt but also it was a sacrameÌ„t of Christ to come that he thorow death should deliuer both the Iewes and all other men from the tiranny and bondage of SataÌ„ as Iohn the christener taught the Iewes saying Ecce agnus dei qui tollit peccata mundi behold the lambe of God whiche taketh away the sinnes of the world He nameth Christ a